bu

bu is the only word in selma'o BU. bu binds with the (pseudo-)word to the left to create a letteral. bu is one of the Magic Words.

Interaction with other Magic Words

For every magic word, the interaction with all other magic words is defined. This table covers all interactions of bu+word, where word is any of the magic words, both alone and within their own grammatical contexts.

|| bu | bu | ungrammatical | bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. | bu bu | ungrammatical | the first bu is ungrammatical, as it has no word on the left to bind to. The rest of the statement is ignored. |

| bu .ybu | ungrammatical | the first bu is ungrammatical, as it has no word on the left to bind to. The rest of the statement is ignored. | bu .abu | ungrammatical | the first bu is ungrammatical, as it has no word on the left to bind to. The rest of the statement is ignored. |

fa'o | bu fa'o | ungrammatical | bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. lo'u | bu lo'u | ungrammatical | bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. |

| bu lo'u le'u | ungrammatical | bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. le'u | bu le'u | ungrammatical | bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. |

sa | bu sa | nil | sa backtracks to the beginning of the text, erasing bu. | bu sa bu | ungrammatical | sa backtracks to the beginning of the text, erasing the first bu. The second bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. |

| bu sa .abu | BY | sa backtracks to the beginning of the text, erasing the first bu. The second bu binds with .a to create a BY pseudo-word. |

| bu sa broda | broda | sa backtracks to the beginning of the text, erasing bu. broda is then parsed. |

si | bu si | nil | si binds with bu and backtracks to the beginning of the text. | bu si si | nil | the first si binds with bu and backtracks to the beginning of the text. the second si backtracks to the beginning of the text. |

su | bu su | nil | su backtracks to the beginning of the text. | bu su su | nil | the first su backtracks to the beginning of the text. the second su backtracks to the beginning of the text. |

zei | bu zei | ungrammatical | zei binds with bu on the left, but there is nothing to bind on the right, which is ungrammatical. | *controversial

| bu zei bu | ungrammatical | zei is not permitted to bind with bu on the left, so this statement is ungrammatical. | *controversial

| bu zei .abu | ungrammatical | zei is not permitted to bind with bu on the left, so this statement is ungrammatical. | *controversial

| .abu zei bu | zei-BRIVLA | the first bu binds with .a to create a BY word. zei binds with this BY on the left, then with bu on the right, creating a zei-BRIVLA. | *controversial

| .abu zei .abu | BY | the first bu binds with .a to create a BY word. zei binds with this BY on the left, then with bu on the right. The second bu then binds with this zei-BRIVLA to create a BY pseudo-word. | *controversial

zo | bu zo | ungrammatical | bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. | bu zo broda | ungrammatical | bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. |

zoi | bu zoi | ungrammatical | bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. | bu zoi .gy. | ungrammatical | bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. |

| bu zoi .gy. .gy. | ungrammatical | bu is ungrammatical with no word on the left to bind to. ||

Note that since bu is left-associative, most of the tests on this page are ungrammatical. For valid uses of bu, please see the bu examples on the other Magic Words pages.

bu, like le'u, is interesting in that it is a valid Lojban word, but is by itself not grammatical. This makes the bu's interaction with sa, si, and su different than it's behavior with other Magic Words, a trait it shares in common with le'u.

Questions about interaction with other Magic Words

Q: If {bu bu} is not grammatical, what do I use for a bu letteral?

A: If you're trying to express the concept of a "meta-letter," you might try {sei bu}, {skubancu bu} or {nunbancu bu}. You can also quote bo with zo and bind that construct to bu: {zo bu bu}. You could argue that the meaning of the first bu is lost before the second bu binds.

Q: How do bu and sa interact?

A: {sa bu} backtracks past the bu, but not the word bu is binding to. This might be the only instance of one Magic Word decomposing a pseudo-word back into it's component words. {sa by} backtracks past the BY pseudo-word created by BU.

Q: In {sa bu} since sa backtracks to the beginning of the string, and bu is not grammatical without a word to bind on the left, what do I use for the sa letteral?

A: If you're trying to express the concept of erasure, you might try {vimcu bu}. You can also quote sa with zo and bind that construct to bu: {zo sa bu}. You could argue that the meaning of sa is lost before bu binds.

Q: What about the {si} and {su} letteral?

A:

Q: seriously zei?

A: I'm fixing it.

See Also

• LL 17.3 Upper and lower cases
• LL 17.4 The universal "bu"